Base of Shadows
by Artemis ZX
Summary: Shepard and the crew of the Normandy are called in to rescue an important Council Ambassador who is trapped on a station outside Citadel space and are soon caught up in a battle for control of the station.
1. Prologue

_Author Note: Ok this is my first ever fanfic and this chapter its a bit long but I hope you enjoy it  
I've made a few changes to this chapter as I wasn't happy with and theres a few large errors for which I apologize._

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**Base of Shadows**

**Prologue**

**Port Hanshan**

**Noveria**

**Horsehead Nebula **

**2183**

**4 weeks after Attack on the Citadel**.

A blizzard was raging on Noveria.

Salandrell's ship finally landed at Noveria. He'd been desperate to finally get his ship on land. The recent attack on the Citadel was enough to make anyone jumpy not least a weak Salarian. He'd been traveling through the Terminus systems and he was glad to be finally at a place where he could be safe. _If only for the moment he thought._

The talks of Geth attacking The Citadel was too scary too think about even for him though it was made even worse when it was revealed that a rogue spectre was involved.

So it was a relief when the Administrator of Noveria wanted his audience. Walking through the glass doors of Port Hanshan the first thing that met the Salarian's eyes was the enormous poster mounted high up on the wall so anyone walking into the Port wouldn't miss it.

The Poster had a picture of a Volus and said "Administrator Varral welcomes you to Port Hanshan."

_Now thats not narcissistic at all_ thought Salandrell sarcastically as he walked up to the reception desk.

The Secretary at the desk was an Asari with a seemingly menacing look Salandrell was willing to bet she was a hired mercenary posing as a Receptionist for extra cover but since everyone was in uproar over the Citadel attack and the rumours of Geth in Peak 15 He couldn't blame Varral for having some additional security. After checking in and being scanned for weapons the 'Receptionist' signalled for a guard and A tall broad-shouldered Turian arrived "Hi my name is Marok, If you please follow me and nothing will possibly go wrong." He spoke calmly and coolly and as he said this he pulled out his assault rifle obviously to intimidate him. The guard led Sallandrell towards the elevator and called down the elevator and Salandrell followed him into it. As soon as the elevator started going up The news came on the radio:

_In light of the recent Geth attack on the Citadel the Citadel Council have confirmed that a rogue Spectre was indeed involved In the attack. However the Council would not disclose any information on the rumours that accuse Legendary Turian Spectre Saren Arterius as the rogue spectre in question._

_In related news the due to Humanity's courageous efforts in the battle of the Citadel against the Geth the council granted Humanity a fourth seat on the council. The decision has been blasted by a former councillor who reckons Humanity isn't ready for the job. Ex-Councillor Decanus Attori formerly of the Turian Hierarchy said in an interview with Citadel news "Humanity has not even been in contact with the Citadel for 30 years yet they are being offered Control over Citadel space! Am I the only one who thinks that this is a little strange? We Turians outfought and defeated The Krogan but we still had to wait 100 years before we were granted a seat on the Citadel here that 100 years! And that was for the ending of a war that threatened Citadel space! What does Humanity do I ask you? Arrives late to the battle fights off a couple of straggler Geth ships and given the Council seat within hours it's an outrage………"_

_For more on the Interview Find it on the extranet keywords 'Citadel News.'_

_In Business News, The Legendary Volus entrepreneur Kor Varral who is currently the recently appointed Administrator of Noveria has revealed his new project that he said has been in development for the last 3 years when he was still president of Elkoss Combine, the project has been revealed to be a yet unnamed Space Station in the privately owned Star system Thebes which Varral owns 34% personally. The rest is owned by the Executive board of the Noveria and the Vol Protectorate. Varral describes the station as "A cross between the Citadel and Noveria" and that it has "everything the Citadel has and more." Varral says he hopes that Citadel occupants that had there homes destroyed in the Geth attack will come to use his station as there new home and that he has lots of 'Excitement' on his station Listen out for a sneak preview of our Exclusive Interview with the mastermind behind this operation next week._

_And finally it seems the Dark a-_

The elevator ground to a halt cutting off the news.

"Alright come on partner we haven't got all day!" said the Guard rudely pushing Salandrell forwards.

"You treat all your guests like this Turian?" He retorted.

"Not the rich ones but I think I know a rich Salarian when I see one and you don't fit into that category Now shut up and keep moving!"

They began walking through the main area of Noveria, the colony was filled with many corporate businessmen and negotiators Salandrell looked at them as they approached Varral's office There were Salarians, Turians, Asari, Humans and a lot more Volus than he was used to seeing in the place. He guessed Varral's celebrity status with the Volus was what attracted them to Noveria.  
After what seemed ages they arrived outside the Administrator's office.

"Don't try any funny stuff" the guard added. "There are 6 turret guns programmed to protect the administrator not to mention his personal guard Jorm, a Krogan. A real vicious one will do anything for a fight, he once killed a ship full of Salarian Commandos in the Terminus Systems and he did it for no reason. Total nutjob so don't get on Varral's bad side."

"I think I can look after myself Turian!" Salandrell spat the words out aggressively at the Guard.

He was sick of the Turian and his overprotective and rude attitude and with that strolled into the Administrator's offices.

Inside the corridor just ahead of the office He could see Varral had made himself home. On the corridor walls Varral had pictures of himself put along the walls a lot of them were Varral meeting some very important of them had Varral shaking hands with what had to be the top members of the Vol protectorate. The governing body of the Volus stationed on the Volus home planet, Irune but they were all wearing suits so it must have been off world. Lots more pictures were self portraits and one picture which definitely stood out it was a picture of a Space Station.  
It must have been the one he heard about in the elevator. Realising he was wasting time Salandrell hastily walked into Varral's office.

Inside the office was the Volus he had been hearing so much about Kor Varral.

"Ah yes Salarian, sit yourself down."

Salandrell obliged and sat down.

"It is an honour Administrator."

Salandrell knew when manners needed to be used.

"Well lets get to business then shall we?" The Volus queried. "First of all I have to ask you used to work on Noveria didn't you?"

"Yes I was the Administator's aide six years ago along with my brother who you may know as your predecessor."

"So your an Anoleis aswell? I see and what was it that made you leave?"

"The Administrator that me and my brother were aiding died suddenly. My brother poisoned him and framed me so I was thrown offworld while he got to be the Excecutive board's new pet."

"Hmm well I can suspend your banishment If you agree to do this job for me?"

"Ok, I'll do it."

"Good, Im going to tell you what I am expecting of you. As you no doubt might have heard I am soon to be opening my new space station, Aeneas Station. Its a catchy name isn't it? A delightful Earth-clan gave me the name. I regret having him killed."

"Yes it has a nice name Administrator." Salandrell hoped the Volus would get on with it.

"Well the fact that its privately owned does not please the council they want to send an Ambassador to investigate before I open the station.  
I'll admit I wasn't happy with the decision but there was nothing I could do."

"What does this have to do with me?" Saladrell asked.

"Well I need a team to escort the Ambassador to the station. Its too risky for me to hire normal security they could sell information on my station too other corporations."

"Then if all you needed was an escort why me?" asked the salarian.

"The Ambassador is also a Salarian he requested one as part of the crew for some reason.  
And I don't know many Salarian mercenaries that aren't Lystheni or dead. So you'll have to do."

"Yes Administrator Ok" said Salandrell getting up to leave.

As The Salarian walked out Varral leaned back in his chair and looked up at a window on his ceiling and stared at the blizzard outside.

"This Ambassador better not be a thorn in my side I have enough problems as it is."

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_Author Note: Ok this is the first chapter finished. Hope you enjoyed it and I assure you the story will get better as it progresses. Well I changed it up a bit as I wasn't really that happy with the outcome too many mistakes (though It has made me a better proof reader so there will a lot less mistakes in the next chapter and the ones following it. So thanks for reading and please leave a review._


	2. Rayingri

_Author note: Ok probably should have done a better introduction before in the prologue so basically this is a story I thought up thats going to be set just after Mass Effect 1 and just try and bridge the gap between ME1 and ME2. Its going to be an action/science fiction story (with maybe a few humourous moments sprinkled on top) and its going to include all the squadmates from Mass Effect 1 and a some OCs of my own so with all that said I hope you find this chapter to your liking.  
__Oh and Disclaimer: Mass Effect was created by Bioware and they own the rights to all things that are Mass Effect related  
__except the OCs I have thought up. So please don't sue!_

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**Chapter 1: Rayingri **

**SSV Normandy SR1  
Rayingri orbit  
Gagarin System  
Armstrong Nebula**

Commander Brendan Shepard was residing in his quarters.  
It'd been a month since he and his crew had taken down Saren, his Geth and above all Sovereign, the Reaper vanguard.  
The journey had been highly costly though as Lt. Kaidan Alenko had been killed in action on Virmire and the death toll after the attack on the Citadel was in the thousands. This had left Humanity with a great deal more power and responsibility. This was enough to make Ambassador Udina's day as Humanity would finally be given a seat on the Citadel Council the only problem was they needed to vote in a representative.

Suddenly Joker's voice came over the intercom.  
"Message here for you Commander, Its Captain Anderson. Maybe he's throwing us a surprise party? You know for killing Sovereign, the Reaper."

"We already had one a week ago but the Captain chose not to invite you." joked Shepard provoking a scowl from the pilot. "I'll take it in the comm room."

As he walked into the comm room He was greeted with a holographic image of a smiling Captain David Anderson.

"Ah Shepard, its good to see you."

"Same to you, Sir."

The Captain's smile faded and Shepard knew things were about to get serious.

"Well you are obviously wondering why we sent you to Rayingri. I'm sorry Shepard but were keeping this low key, we need the galaxy to think that there are no Geth left in Citadel space unfortunately that's not the case. So we don't want the civilians to know about it and telling you in private is a lot easier what with the Citadel being repaired. So we need this to be done quietly.

"I understand, Sir. So what's so important about Rayingri? I thought The Alliance brass was sending patrols to stop the Geth from returning from the veil."

"Sadly, the ships we were going to send to the Armstrong Nebula were destroyed in the Citadel siege." Sighed Anderson.  
"And now that the Alliance is part of the council and we have one the strongest fleets, we are tasked with destroying what's left of Saren's Geth."

Shepard didn't like the sound of this, it sounded like the Alliance wanted him to do another Geth hunt.

"So you think there are Geth on Rayingri? And you want me to take them out?"

"Its not just the Geth we want dealt with, see for yourself."

As he spoke another much smaller holographic image of a enormous male Krogan appeared next to Captain Anderson.  
He could see by the tan coloured crest on his head and his overly large shoulder hump (an aspect highly respected in Krogan culture)  
that he must be an old veteran Krogan most likely a Warlord.

"This is Faronak he was one of Saren's top Krogan generals when he went rogue two months ago.  
We've been tracking down most of the Krogan that Saren enslaved that had survived the battle and the ones we captured pointed us to him.  
They said he admired Saren and fully believed he was going to lead the Krogan back to their forgotten glory and after Lady Benezia's death he was made Saren's second in command and was left in control of a small army of Geth on Ilos."

"So you're saying this Faronak is so upset with defeat that he's trying to finish what Saren started?" Asked Shepard.

"I think he intends to finish what he believes Saren started. My intelligence teams have been picking up his chatter for over a week now and for the last three days his readings have been coming from here in the Gagarin system and since you haven't already detected his ship then he must be on Rayingri. Why he's there we don't know maybe he's using it as a rallying point to call in more armies from behind the veil if there are still some Saren supporters left there."

"So you want me to go down to Rayingri and take out whatever Geth resistance there is left there and kill this Krogan?"

"Yes Faronak is too dangerous an enemy; make sure he doesn't leave that planet alive."

"OK got it Sir"

"Good I'll try and contact you after the mission. Good luck Shepard."

After that the image of the Captain faded and the briefing was over.

Shepard stepped casually out of the comm room and walked straight up to the Normandy's Executive Officer Navigator Pressly.

"Pressly, tell Joker to prepare a surface drop on Rayingri. We've got some Geth to take down."

"Aye, aye Sir, right away Sir." responded the XO hurrying to complete his order.

Shepard walked towards the garage elevator to prepare his squad for the drop.

**5 Hours later**

The surface of Rayingri was barren as ever. The cyclonic windstorms made it nearly impossible to see while up in the sky the rogue planetoid Vahtze which in the next two hundred years would rip itself apart and take Rayingri with it loomed overhead making it Rayingri's most interesting feature, even if it was its only interesting feature. Below the Mako rover sped across the land searching for the Krogan.

"Garrus! Are we picking up any Geth signals?" Barked Shepard.

"Not at the moment Shepard, Maybe we should head for that research station. You know where those other Geth were last time?"

Shepard sighed "I remember don't worry Garrus just keep looking for those Geth bastards."

"OK Commander I'm on it- Quick! STOP!"

Garrus had just looked up from the radar and glanced outside he'd seen something strange.

Ashley quickly pressed the brakes grinding the Mako to a halt.

"Jeez Vakarian are you trying to give us all heart attacks?" She said giving the Turian a scathing look.

"What was I supposed to do Chief Williams? Let you drive right past it?"

"Right both of you ENOUGH!" said Shepard, raising his voice. "Garrus what do you see?"

"There appears to be a large hole or tunnel over there." He pointed to the right.  
Shepard looked and from what he could see through the wind Garrus seemed to be correct.

"Why didn't you say so before?" Reprimanded Shepard.

"The radar shows no sign of a hole that big anywhere." said Garrus "I'd say the Geth are blocking out the signal make us think its not there."

"Ok Ashley drive us there, quickly."

Once there Shepard saw that there indeed was a large hole there that was too small too be a crater and that the Geth had obviously tunnelled there most likely using a mining laser. The hole was just big enough for the Mako to fit in.

"Ok were driving in. Remember if there's a Krogan there take him out."

They drove the Mako into the tunnel they realised that it was about 2 or 3 miles long.

"The Geth made this awful quick" remarked Ashley "I thought the Captain said they were only here for like a short time?"

"Tali said the Quarians used them as miners and labourers and they are synthetics so there bound to be quick."

After 10 minutes of driving through the tunnel Garrus spoke up.

"Shepard I'm picking Geth readings straight ahead, the Krogan must be here."

Unfortunately the tunnel became too thin for the Mako to go through so Shepard and his team got out and started moving towards the Geth.

They finally arrived at what looked like an ordinary outpost camp.

"Careful, it's probably a trap." said Shepard as they walked towards the centre of the camp.

As they reached the centre suddenly a Krogan voice came from one of the huts "Now kill them!"  
And Geth came out from every angle.

"It's an ambush!" roared Shepard. "Quick take cover!"

The squad took cover behind some rocks and began firing at the advancing Geth who were made up mostly of standard soldiers, shock troopers  
and rocket troops. It wasn't a strong force as most of the Geth foolish enough to get close to them were taken down by either Shepard using his Karpov pistol or Ashley using her Thunder assault rifle meanwhile Garrus picked off the rocket troops at the back using a Striker sniper rifle.

"Come on the Krogan's in that hut." pointed Shepard as he put a bullet in the head of the one remaining Geth soldier.

They walked towards the hut and found the door was surprisingly unlocked.  
They opened the door expecting to find Faronak unfortunately it wasn't what they expected.

"Well, well Commander Shepard, we meet at last." said the VI interface of the Krogan Warlord.

"Damn it." swore Shepard. "Where the hell are you?"

"I've been in my ship underground this whole time Shepard and let me tell you that no one will stop the Krogan from returning! No one!  
The Council will pay for what it's done to my people!"

"Glad Wrex isn't with us." Remarked Ashley.

"If I were you Commander I wouldn't stay down there much longer unless you fancy being buried alive?  
You see I've had my Geth place charges in this tunnel and I can set them off from here and it'll collapse.  
Tell you what I'll give you 30 seconds to get out of there starting.......now!"

"Let's get out of here NOW!" Shouted Shepard.

They ran as fast as they could. Jumping over the bodies of the fallen Geth and ran towards the Mako.

Just as they reached the Mako they heard a loud bang coming from behind them.

"Damn that son of a bitch set the charges off!" said Ashley, angrily.

"You think?!" Garrus shouted back.

Suddenly the cavern started shaking and rocks were falling.

"Get inside the Mako and drive before it caves in on us!" yelled Shepard.

They got inside and Ashley turned the vehicle around and rove towards the surface while the tunnel was collapsing around them.

"Chief Williams hurry!" exclaimed Garrus.

"Don't get your panties in a knot Vakarian! I'm going as fast as I can!"

Finally they reached the end of the tunnel and Ashley used the Mako's rockets to lift them onto the surface just as it caved in burying it in rubble.

Then Faronak's Geth dropship flew over them and Shepard was contacted by Joker.  
"Hey Commander! Theres a Geth ship that's just come out of nowhere down there!"

Shepard rolled his eyes "I know Joker don't worry were chasing him."

The Mako gave chase Shepard manning the turret fired at the Krogan's ship.

"You should send a rocket up his ass skipper!" shouted Ashley.

"It looks like they've already had the same idea Chief." said Garrus. "They've launched six missiles right at us Shepard!"

"Chief try to avoid them!"

"I'm trying sir, Garrus how close are they?"

The sound of the Mako being hit by six missiles greeted there ears. The Turian turned around and faced her.

"I'd say there pretty close."

"Now's not the time to be a wise guy Garrus!" Shepard said gritting his teeth. "How are our shields holding up?"

"There down Shepard! If we take much more damage we'll be sitting ducks!"

"We need to get the Krogan He's too dangerous to be kept alive so I say we bring him down! Keep her going Chief!"

"Aye, aye Sir!"

The Mako fired a missile at the Geth ship the missile struck the ship with incredible force. The dropship didn't have shields so a lot of damage was done to it. The Geth ship retaliated sending two more missiles straight at the Mako they hit there target and crippled its systems.

"I can't move it! Ashley shouted in frustration.

"Power is failing Shepard !what do we do now? Do we surrender?"

"Like hell we will!" Ashley interrupted. "I have no interest in being some Krogan's slave."

"Shepard they've launched another missile! And when it hits us were toast! What are we going to do?!

"Open the doors get out now!" Shouted Shepard.

Garrus and Ashley both dived out when the doors opened and Shepard jumped out just as the Missile hit home.

There was a loud bang and there was flames and broken scraps of metal and then darkness.

Shepard opened an eye and saw the Geth ship flying above, mocking him. The seconds went by like hours as Shepard zoned in and out of consciousness and with what little strength he had left he managed to contact Joker.

"Joker!" He groaned. "JOKER!"

"Commander?! What happened! The Geth ships leaving where are you?"

"The bastards blew up the Mako! Send down a shuttle to pick us up make sure.....Chakwas is on it"

"What! Ok Commander hang in there! Joker's coming to save the day."

"Just...get it.....done." The Commander was losing strength he had a large gash on his side and a cut on his forehead.

He looked for Garrus and Ashley and saw them lying unconscious nearby. He then heard a large roar and looked to see the Geth ship speed away and escape and with that everything went black.

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_A/N Well thats the end of chapter 1. _

_I hope you enjoyed it and there should be a lot less grammatical errors than there was in the prologue.  
I'll try and get chapter 2 finished before Mass Effect 2 comes out so please leave a review!  
and I'll see you next time!_


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